Intel is constructing a water recycling plant in Oregon that will help the company recycle roughly 1 billion gallons of water per year and reach its goal of restoring 100% of its global water use by 2025, the company's latest sustainability report says. Meanwhile, Intel runs its US and European businesses on 100% renewable energy, while its global operations boast a 75% renewable energy mix.

Toshiba has begun production of the TC78B025FTG, a three-phase brushless motor driver integrated chip that boasts a rotation speed control function that makes it ideal for small fan applications. The IC operates in power supply ranges of 4.5 volts to 16 volts while including thermal shutdown, over current and motor lock detection protections.

While it's unclear how quantum effects will impact 5-nanometer and smaller chips, it's likely that developers will have some sort of effects to work around, writes Ed Sperling. While quantum effects could potentially be harnessed, they also could become annoyances that require management as designs progress, Sperling writes.

Integrated circuit designers are seeing their short-term profit margins reduced by higher 8-inch fab quotes, industry sources say, noting that the increase could actually help stabilize the sector over the long haul. IC designers are working to innovate in an effort to provide cost-effective products, while some designers are considering whether to raise their own chip prices to compensate for higher manufacturing costs.

STMicroelectronics has issued its latest sustainability report, which indicates that the company reduced its energy consumption by 12% year-over-year in 2017 while deriving 26% of its purchased energy from renewable sources. ST was recognized by the Carbon Disclosure Project as an A-list sustainable water management leader and reused, recovered or recycled over 91% of its waste during the year.

Micron Technology and Intel have begun production of 4bits/cell 3D NAND technology that offers the world's highest density flash memory at 1 terabit per die. Meanwhile, Micron and Intel have made progress on the development of 96-tier 3D NAND structure, which offers a 50% boost in layers.

Arm has nearly completed register-transfer level design for its machine learning core, which it hopes to see used in a premium smartphone in the next few years. The core is designed for iPhones, Samsung Galaxy phones and others that already make use of artificial intelligence accelerator blocks.